Recharging method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides apparatus and an associated method for remotely energizing power storage devices. Energization may preferably be effected through the use of RF energy from a base station, ambient energy or ultra-wide band energy. The remote station preferably has at least one antenna having an effective area greater than its physical area. The system may have an antenna and associated circuitry provided on an electronic chip such as a monolithic chip or on a printed circuit with a suitable substrate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/265,832, filed Nov. 3, 2005 entitled “RECHARGING METHOD ANDAPPARATUS, which is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/021,978 entitled “RECHARGING METHOD AND APPARATUS” filed Dec. 23,2004, which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. Ser. No. 10/459,051 filedJun. 11, 2003, entitled “RECHARGING METHOD AND APPARATUS” which, thisapplication claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.60/411,825, entitled “RECHARGING METHOD” filed Sep. 18, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method and associated apparatus for remoteenergizing of power storage devices and particularly to a methodemploying small apparatus for remote energizing of power storage devicesusing RF. The method of this invention preferably employs at least oneantenna that has an effective area greater than its physical area toharvest energy.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Contactless electrical connections are well known in the field ofportable electrical devices. For example, portable motorizedtoothbrushes typically contain a rechargeable battery, which is chargedby induction. The inductive charging device is also called anelectromagnetic, non-contact type battery charging device. The inductivecharging device is advantageous in that it cannot be hindered by a badelectrical contact unlike the charging device that requires anelectrical connection. Inductive charging devices typically consist ofinductive coupler for transferring energy from a primary side of theinductive coupler on a charging device to a secondary side of theinductive coupler on the electronic device. Examples of inventionsutilizing inductive charging include U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,651, U.S. Pat.No. 6,310,465 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,814. A major problem withinductive charging is that the charging device needs to be in closeproximity to the electronic device in order to energized power storagedevices in the electronic device.

To overcome the problems associated with inductive charging, chargingdevices using RF electromagnetic field radiated into free space havebeen described. U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,799 describes a charge storagedevice that is charged by exposing the charge storage device to an RFelectromagnetic field radiated into free space. The charge storagedevice includes one or more antennas disposed on the device and adaptedto receive the radiated RF electromagnetic field. One or more rectifiersare connected to the antennas for rectifying the received RFelectromagnetic field into a DC output current. The DC output currentproduced by the rectifier is used to energize the charge storage device.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,799, the antennas may be one or moredipole antennas which are combined to form at least two subsets ofdipole antenna element arrays, wherein one subset may be oriented at anacute or a right angle with respect to at least one other subset. Theantennas or dipole antennas may be placed on more than one outsidesurface of the charge storage device, which enclose an acute or a rightangle with respect to each other. The use of RF energy and antennae todevelop remote charging using the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.6,127,799 has a shortcoming in that the power conversion efficiency ofthe antenna array in the disclosed invention is dependent on the numberof dipoles. Also, the size of the dipole antennas for the device do notmake it practical for the majority of portable electronic devices (e.g.,cellular telephones, portable electronic games, digital camera's and thelike). In this prior disclosure, the dipole antennas are used to covermore than one side of a battery that has a width of 12.5 cm.

An approach to overcoming the problems of prior art is through the useof antennas formed on electronic chips. Examples of prior art thatdisclose on-chip antennas include U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,893 (Carroll) andU.S. Pat. No. 6,373,447 (Rostoker).

The preferred approach as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,893 is to usea deposition technique that effectively creates a single monolithic chipassembly that includes all of the circuitry necessary to produce afunctionally complete transponder unit. This patent discusses the use ofmagnetic film inductors on the chip to allow a reduction in the numberof turns, and thereby make the fabrication of such inductors feasible.This patent references Soohoo, “Magnetic Thin Film Inductors ForIntegrated Circuit Applications”, IEEE Transactions in Magnetic, Vol.MAG-15, No. 6, pp. 1803-1805 (November 1979) and Salch and Qureshi,“Permalloy ThinFilm Inductors”, Electronic Letters, Vol. 6, No. 26, pp.850-852 (Dec. 31, 1970). This patent discusses the construction of theantenna on a chip as follows: A 10-turn square spiral coil for use at 10MHz is constructed having an outer diameter of 1 cm×1 cm. The conductingpath width is 0.005 inches. The spacing between turns is 0.001 in. Thecopper path is deposited by vacuum evaporation and then thickness isbuilt up to about 25 micrometers by electroplating. Two permalloymagnetic films, having a thickness of from 1000-3000 Angstroms, surroundthe conductors, one on top, and the other on the bottom. The film isevaporated in an orienting magnetic field in such a way that the longdimension is parallel to the field and, therefore, is the easy directionof magnetization of the film. When a high-frequency current passes inthe coil, the magnetic films are driven in a hard direction, and the twomagnetic films around each conductor act as a magnetic core enclosing a1-turn coil. The effect of the magnetic films is to increase theinductance of the coil in addition to its free-space inductance. Themagnetic permeability is quite large, as the films are driven in thehard direction. Further, an insulating silicon-monoxide layer (SiO,10,000 A thick) separates each magnetic film from the conducting path.

The problem with the approach as disclosed by Carroll U.S. Pat. No.4,857,893 is the need to deposit a permalloy magnetic film, or othersuitable material having a large magnetic permeability and electricalinsulating properties in order increase the inductance of the coil. Thisincreases the cost and complexity of the antenna of a chip. It alsolimits the ability to shrink the size of the antenna because of the needfor magnetic film layers between the antenna coil(s).

U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,447 (Rostoker) discloses the use of one or moreantennas that are formed on an integrated circuit (IC) chip andconnected to other circuitry on the IC chip. Antenna configurations aredisclosed that include loop, multi-turn loop, square spiral, long wire,or dipole. The antenna as disclosed could be formed to have two or moresegments, which can selectively be connected to one another to alter aneffective length of the antenna. Furthermore, two antennas may be formedin two different metallization layers separated by an insulating layer.A major shortcoming of this prior art is that the inventors teach thatthe antenna's transmitting and receiving strength “is proportional tothe number of turns and area of the loop.”

There remains a need for small remote power charger device andassociated method that have a means for receipt of transmitted energyfrom the environment and energizing power storage devices on an objectof interest wherein the power charger device is not dependent oninductive charging.

There is also a need for a small remote power charger device andassociated method having a means for receipt of transmitted energy fromthe environment and energizing power storage devices on an object ofinterest using one or more antenna(e) on a substrate.

Finally, there is a need for a small remote power charger device andassociated method that uses one or more antenna(e) on a substratewherein the strength of the antenna is not dependent on magneticinduction or number of turns and area of the loop of the antenna.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has met the above-described needs.

It provides a method and apparatus of energizing a power storage devicewhich has a base station and a remote station having an antenna forreceiving power and a power storage device. Energy is transmitted inspace from the base station to the remote station. The antenna employedpreferably has an effective area greater than its physical area.Transmitted energy is received by the antenna and converted to DC powerwhich is employed to energize the power storage device.

In another embodiment ambient energy from the environment is employed.

In another embodiment ultra-wide band frequency transmitted is employed.

The antenna may be formed on an electronic chip or printed circuitboard. A monolithic chip having both the antenna and the circuitry maybe employed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus for remotely energizing a power storage device withoutemploying direct wiring.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a methodand apparatus wherein a base station provides energy in space to aremote station.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a method andapparatus wherein an antenna on the remote station has an effective areagreater than its physical area.

It is another object of the invention to provide the antenna on anelectronic chip or printed circuit board.

These and other objects of the invention will be more fully understoodfrom the following detailed description of the invention on reference tothe illustration appended hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a recharging apparatus employablewith the method of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of ambient energy rechargingapparatus constructed in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of UWB Recharging Apparatusconstructed in accordance with the invention.

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b are a schematic illustrations of the antenna on aremote station that has been printed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Recharging Apparatus

In one embodiment shown in FIG. 1, an apparatus and associated methodfor remote energizing of power storage devices comprises a base station2 and a remote station 4. The base station 2 has a means fortransmitting energy 30 in space to the remote station 4. Thetransmission of energy 30 can be through RF. The remote station 4 has ameans for receipt of the transmitted energy 30 and converting thetransmitted energy 102 into DC power for energizing the power storagedevice 150 on the object of interest. The receipt of the transmittedenergy 30 on the remote station 4 of this invention is through one ormore antennae 100 on the remote station wherein at least one antenna 20has an effective antenna area 22 greater than its physical area 21. Theeffective area 22 of the antenna is made greater than its physical areathrough the use of an LC tank circuit in the antenna. The use of anantenna 100 that has an effective area greater 22 than its physical area21 enables the creation of small remote stations that can be used toenergize small electronic energy storage devices 150. The remote station4 may also include microcontroller 94 to store, manipulate and transmitinformation 8 back through antenna 110 to the base station 2.

Ambient Energy Recharging Apparatus

In another embodiment as shown in FIG. 2 an apparatus and associatedmethod consist of a small remote station having a means for receipt ofambient energy 32 from the non-cooperating environment 208 andenergizing power storage devices 150 of objects of interest. The remotestation 4 consists of one or more antennae 100 used to harvest theambient energy 32 and circuitry 102 for converting this ambient energyinto DC power for energizing power storage devices 150. The effectivearea of the antenna 22 is made greater than its physical area 21 throughthe use of an LC tank circuit in the antenna. The use of an antenna 100that has an effective area greater 22 than its physical area 21 enablesthe creation of small remote stations that can be used to energize smallelectronic energy storage devices 150. The remote station 4 may alsoinclude microcontroller 94 to store, manipulate and transmit information8 back to a base station 2 (not shown).

UWB Recharging Apparatus

In yet another embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 3,an apparatus and associated method for remote energizing of powerstorage devices comprises a base station 2 and a remote station 4. Thebase station 2 has a means for transmitting energy 31 in space to theremote station 4 using ultra-wide band (UWB) 33. The remote station 4has a means for receipt of the transmitted energy 31 in the form ofultra-wide band 33 through the use of an array 300 of multiple discreteantenna 20 each tuned to a separate frequency of the UWB. Thetransmitted energy 31 is converted into DC power 102 for energizing thepower storage device 150 on the object of interest. Antennae 20 thatmake up the array that is used to harvest the transmitted energy eachhave an effective antenna 22 area greater than its physical area 21. Theeffective areas of the antennae in the array are made greater than theirphysical area through the use of an LC tank circuits in the antennae.The use of an antenna array 300 to harvest energy transmitted in theform of UWB wherein the antennae have an effective area greater thantheir physical area enables the creation of a small remote station thatcan be used to energize small electronic energy storage devices 150. Theuse of UWB enables the transmission of energy that is less likely to bedetected or scrambled. This has major benefits in military applicationswherein UWB can be used to discretely transmit energy to power storageunits on troops or devices in the field. The remote station 4 may alsoinclude microcontroller 94 to store, manipulate and transmit information8 back to a base station 2.

Effective Area

For the different embodiments of this invention, the receipt of thetransmitted energy on the remote station is through one or more antennaeon the remote station wherein at least one antenna has an effectiveantenna area greater than its physical area. The effective area of theantenna is made greater than its physical area through the use of an LCtank circuit in the antenna. The use of an antenna that has an effectivearea greater than its physical area enables the creation of small remotestations that can be used to energize small electronic energy storagedevices.

“Effective area” of the antenna refers to the fact that a tuned antennamay have an effective area that is larger than its geometric area. Thephenomenon was explained by Reinhold Rudenberg in 1908 [Rudenberg,Reinhold, “Den Empfang Elektrischer Wellen in den DrahtlosenTelegraphie” (“The Receipt of Electric Waves in the WirelessTelegraphy”) Annalen den Physik IV, 25, 1908, p. 446-466.] and thedescription has been expanded upon over the years by many others.

As stated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,866, “Rudenberg teaches that theantenna interacts with the incoming field, which may be approximately aplane wave, causing a current to flow in the antenna by induction. The[antenna] current, in turn, produces a field in the vicinity of theantenna, which field, in turn, interacts with the incoming field in sucha way that the incoming field lines are bent. The field lines are bentin such a way that the energy is caused to flow from a relatively largeportion of the incoming wave front, having the effect of absorbingenergy from the wave front into the antenna from a wave front which ismuch larger than the geometrical area of the antenna.”

While the concept of effective area may be known, implementing it inantenna design and construction is not easy or obvious U.S. Pat. No.5,296,866 teaches making active antennas that have greater effectivenessthrough use of discrete circuitry. U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,893 discloses theconcept of making an antenna on a chip that use magnetic films aroundeach antenna conductor in order to increase the inductance of the coil.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/951,032 (Mickle) which is a CIP ofU.S. Pat. No. 6,289,237 discloses an antenna on a chip that has aneffective area greater than its physical area. The disclosures of thisapplication and this patent are incorporated herein by reference. Theeffective area of the antenna is made greater than its physical areathrough the use of an LC tank circuit in the antenna. This isaccomplished through the use in the (1) antenna of inter-electrodecapacitance and inductance and jointly or severally the (2) parasiticcapacitance and inductance of the chip (die) to form the LC tankcircuit. The benefit of utilizing the inter-electrode capacitance andinductance and parasitic capacitance and inductance to form the LC tankcircuit is that no additional discrete circuitry is required to providethe antenna with an effective area greater than its physical area. Moreimportant, the use of the LC tank circuit means that use of magneticfilms around each antenna conductor is not required. This simplifies theproduction of the antenna on a chip and potentially allows the design ofultra-small antenna on a chip.

Data showing evidence of large effective area of antenna compared to thephysical area on the antenna, is disclosed in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/951,032 (Mickle) which is a CIP of U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,237.Additionally, this application provides disclosure of conversion meansfrom the transmitted energy to DC (or AC) voltage.

Printed Remote Station

One method of producing a remote station of this invention is through asemiconductor production technique that effectively creates a singlemonolithic chip assembly that includes all of the circuitry necessary toproduce a functionally complete remote station. The chip can be in theform of a device selected from a CMOS device and/or a MEMS device.

Another method of producing a remote station of this invention isthrough printing of antenna and all of the circuitry necessary toproduce a functionally complete remote station on a suitable substrate.A printed antenna that has an effective area greater than its physicalarea the antenna is shown in FIGS. 4 a and 4 b and can be constructed asfollows:

a. An antenna is designed with specific electrode and interelectodedimensions (414) so that when covered with, or deposited on, a substrateof appropriate capacitance, an LC “tank” circuit will form.

b. The antenna design is printed onto to a non-conductive substrate(plastic film, glass, or the like) 401 using commercially availableconductive compositions (i.e., conductive epoxy, conductive ink, and thelike). The design 414 is printed using standard printing techniques suchas ink jet, or silkscreen, for example.

c. A film of material (412) that has specific capacitance and insulatingproperties is printed on top of the antenna. This film (412) willprovide the antenna to for the LC “tank” circuit.

Other electronic items such as diodes (not shown) can then be printedonto the substrate in order to form a printed charge device of thisinvention.

It will be appreciated that the present invention provides a method ofenergizing a power storage device wherein a source of energy is, (a) inone embodiment transmitted from a base station to a remote station and,(b) in another embodiment, is received by the remote station fromambient energy which may be RF power and, (c) in yet another embodiment,involves transmission of energy of ultra-wide band frequency orfrequencies. The antenna receives the energy and the circuitry on thebase station provides for conversion of the energy into DC power whichis subsequently delivered to the power storage device.

The method preferably includes employing as the antenna an antennaformed on an electronic chip. The antenna may be formed by printing on asubstrate on the remote station, employing conductive and electricallyinsulating portions. The remote station may employ an LC tank circuit inassociation with the antenna or in the antenna to establish an effectivearea of the antenna greater than the physical area.

In the alternative all three embodiments regardless of whether using abase transmitted energy or ambient energy or ultra-wide band frequencyor frequencies may be employed with antennas other than antennas havingan effective area greater than the physical area.

Whereas particular embodiments of the invention have been describedhereinabove for purposes of illustration, it will be evident to thoseskilled in the art that numerous variations of the details may be madewithout departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

1. A method, comprising: receiving power at a remote station via aplurality of antennas coupled to the remote station, the received powerbeing associated with a plurality of frequencies within an ultra-widefrequency band, each antenna from the plurality of antennas of theremote station configured to receive a unique frequency from theplurality of frequencies within of the ultra-wide band, each antennafrom the plurality of antennas having an effective area greater than aphysical area of that antenna as a result of a circuit formed withinthat antenna, wherein the plurality of antennas are formed on asubstrate, the circuit formed within each antenna from the plurality ofantennas being based on (1) a specific capacitance of the substrate, and(2) specific electrode and inter-electrode dimensions of that antenna;and converting the received power to a DC power at the remote station.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the effective antenna area of eachantenna from the plurality of antennas is increased by the circuitformed therein.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the circuit formedwithin each antenna from the plurality of antennas is an LC circuit, theLC circuit further being defined by a parasitic capacitance of thesubstrate and an inductance of the substrate.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the remote station is coupled to a power storage device, themethod further comprising: sending at least a portion of the DC powerfrom the remote station to the power storage device to energize thepower storage device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a receivingstrength of at least one antenna from the plurality of antenna isindependent of magnetic induction, a number of turns of a loop in thatat least one antenna, or an area of the loop of that at least oneantenna.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote station includes amicrocontroller, the method further comprising: powering themicrocontroller using at least a portion of the DC power, themicrocontroller configured to process power-related data and to controlwireless transmission of the power-related data from the remote stationto a base station.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote stationis formed on a single semiconductor chip.
 8. A method, comprising:receiving power at a remote station through at least one antenna, thereceived power being associated with an RF frequency band, the at leastone antenna having an effective area greater than a physical area of theat least one antenna the at least one antenna having a circuit definedby a specific capacitance of a substrate on which the at least oneantenna is disposed and specific electrode and inter-electrodedimensions of the at least one antenna; and converting the receivedpower to a DC power at the remote station.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the RF frequency band is an ultra-wide frequency band.
 10. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the remote station includes a power storagedevice, the method further comprising: sending the DC power to the powerstorage device.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the circuit is formedwithin the at least one antenna without any additional discretecircuitry being electrically connected to the at least one antenna. 12.The method of claim 8, wherein the circuit is an LC tank circuitconfigured to increase the effective area of the at least one antenna.13. The method of claim 8, wherein the remote station includes acommunication antenna and a microcontroller, the method furthercomprising: storing power-related information at the microcontroller ofthe remote station; and sending the power-related information to a basestation via the communication antenna of the remote station.
 14. Anapparatus, comprising: a storage device; and a remote station includingat least one antenna and being coupled to the storage device, the remotestation configured to receive power from a base station through the atleast one antenna, the received power being associated with an RFfrequency band, the remote station configured to convert the receivedpower to a DC power, the at least one antenna disposed on a substrate,the at least one antenna having an effective area greater than aphysical area of the at least one antenna, the at least one antennahaving a circuit defined by a specific capacitance of the substrate andspecific electrode and inter-electrode dimensions of the at least oneantenna, the storage device configured to store at least a portion ofthe DC power.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the RF frequencyband is an ultra-wide frequency band.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15,wherein each antenna from the at least one antenna is tuned to amutually exclusive portion of the ultra-wide frequency band.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the remote station further includes amicrocontroller and a communication antenna separate from the at leastone antenna, the microcontroller configured to cause the communicationantenna to wirelessly transmit information to a base station when themicrocontroller is powered by at least a portion of the DC power. 18.The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the circuit is formed within the atleast one antenna without any additional discrete circuitry beingelectrically connected to the at least one antenna.
 19. The apparatus ofclaim 14, wherein the effective antenna area of the at least one antennahaving the circuit formed therein is greater than an effective antennaarea of the at least one antenna not having the circuit formed therein.20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the circuit is an LC tankcircuit.